if you don't mind the price I will say Orvis Hydros 3d and Orvis Superfine are my favorite lines out on the market. I have cast SA textured and SA trout mastery and Orvis line blows them away. By far my favorite line to date!

I have heard good things about the Orvis line in the non 3d. I think the Superfine isn't what I am looking for. Current rod is med fast action and the new rod I am looking at is med. Is the Superfine for slower actions right? Maybe it would work for the med.

Never thought choosing a new line would prove to be this difficult. I need to stop doing research and reading reviews...

I use rio gold 3 wt lines on several 2 wt rods... I like the lines very much and I actually do like the color change. I think the color changes at about 40 feet of fly line. Using a slightly longer 2 wt fly rod, like the 7 foot 3 inch echo carbon with dry flies, I will sometime see the color change and realize that I am casting probably further than I need to, and about as far as I can and should.

Allow for the leader, and you're putting a fly 45 feet away and I will often miss a fish that range anyhow... whether I can make the cast or not.

Distance is really important in wild trout fishing, but there's no point in staying so far back that you miss the fish if they do hit the fly. When I see that color change come off the reel, it maybe time to move up

I think it's a lot easier to make a 45 foot cast with a 7' 3" 2wt fly rod usingmy usual #14 Adams than people realize, I am certainly no trained fly rod caster

Gibsy - first let me say, excellent choice in guitars. although I'm a Tele guy myself, I still love those LP's!

Second - I would encourage you to check out the Orvis lines. In the interest of full disclosure I do work for Orvis but I don't BS people. This is one of our products I really get behind because, like many of us, I often wondered if I could tell the difference in lines from different companies and at various price points.

Truth is you can.

But here is what I got from all the lines I have bought and tried. You can find a line that will get the job done almost anywhere. You don't have to go big dollar to get a good line.

Here is what our line does better than others:

Hydros 3d Trout is great because it mends and shoots better than any other line I have tried. It has zero memory. The 3d texturing lets you roll cast a mile. And the IS (integrated slickness) really lets this line fly. For long range casts this is my choice.

The Hydros Superfine is what I use on my short rod (7'9" 5wt far and fine). Reason I like the superfine for this is because it's durable. this is my everyday local rig and it sees a lot of use. It gets drug on rocks and stepped on and still casts like new. I like the Superfine line because I think not having the 3D and IS allows it to have just the right amount of friction to load my rod perfectly for those small stream, tight roll casts we so often find ourselves having to make.

so there you have it. I had SA trout mastery and GPX textured and I sold them after I tried our lines. My good friend has Air Flo PVC? and it was alright. I've had 444 and 555 and 333, all great lines and for the most part they are just fine for most the fishing any of us do. I'm just really nerdy about this and since my job allows me the opportunity to try expensive line on the cheap I figure I should't miss the chance.

FWIW, I had Rio Gold on my 6WT setup and Scientific Angler GPX on my 4WT outfit and thought the Scientific Angler line was a little nicer than the Rio. After about a season of use it was starting to crack and not float as high. I even bought some of the Rio line cleaning products and cleaned my line regularly.

The SA line came on the reel as a packaged item so I didn't really care. I fished it, reeled it in, and that was pretty much it. After a season of fishing, it held up much better than the SA (except for a tear down by the welded loop, but that was my fault).

All that said, I wouldn't not buy Rio Gold, or other Rio line, but I'd consider SA lines as well.